parents and principals as partners in creating a culture of learning

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Criterium validity which refers to the relationship between scores on a
measuring instrument and an independent variable (criterion) believed to
measure directly the behaviour of characteristics in question. The criterion
should be relevant, reliable and free from bias and contamination.
Construct validity where the extent to which the test measures a specific
trait or construct is concerned, for example, intelligence, reasoning, ability,
attitudes, etceteras.
It means that validity of the questionnaire indicates how worthwhile a measure is
likely to be in a given situation. Validity shows whether the instrument is
reflecting the true story, or at least something approximating the truth. A valid
research instrument is one that has demonstrated that it detects some "real" ability,
attitude, or prevailing situation that the researcher can identify. and characterise
(SchnetIer (ed.), 1993:71). If the ability or attitude is itself.stable, and if a
respondent's answer to the items are not affected by other unpredictable factors,
'then each administration of the instrument should yield essentially the same results
(Dane, 1990:158).
The validity of the questionnaire as a research instrument reflects the sureness with
which conclusions can be drawn. It refers to the extent to which interpretations of
the instrument's results, other than the ones the researcher wishes to make, can be
ruled out. Establishing validity requires that the researcher anticipates the
potential arguments that sceptics might use to dismiss the research results (Dane,
1990: 148-149).
The researcher, employed the questionnaire as an indirect method to measure
whether parents and principals are partners in creating a culture of learning.
Because of the complexity of the respondents' attributes one is never sure that the
questionnaire devised will actually measure what it purports to measure. Items in